"Release!" aims to help with team-building. It's sure to be a great addition to conferences or breaks during the work week. The game's creator Alex Papadimoulis, an agile software engineer based in Cleveland, puts it this way:

"Release! is a 3 to 5 player card game that takes modern development methodologies and crams them into a trick taking card game that is fast paced, easy to pick up, and has a lot of room for strategy. But Release! is more than just a fun way to spend a few minutes. It's something that can bring your team – and even different teams – together, at a table, for a reason other than a routine meeting."

How does it work? According to the rules, players must manage cooperation and competition with other players across 5 hands (or "releases") to score the most points. Each release is played the same, but the scoring rules change from release to release, so teams need to continuously respond to these strategic shifts in order to produce the best release possible.

The game has received a great response from the software development community so far. Well known practitioners such as Patrick Debois, Dan North, Jez Humble and Gene Kim have lent their likenesses to the game. Additionally, a variety of Plug-ins and Expansions feature a range of organizations including New Relic, Chef, Puppet Labs and of course, ActiveState.

We're working with the "Release!" team to add a Stackato-themed Platform Expansion to the game. While the details are still being worked out, the new expansion will introduce 36 new cards and exciting gameplay twists. Playing "Release!" with the Deployment Expansion will engage the players' planning, agility and bluster. Expect big bets and wild point swings.

Here is a sneak preview of the expansion cards showing off the power of Stackato!

We're proud to support "Release" and are excited for its success. The game has surpassed its Kickstarter goals and already has over 1,000 pre-orders. The special Kickstarter edition, priced at $27, accommodates up to 10 players and includes all expansions, a cool premium box and the digital copy. You can pre-order "Release!" Kickstarter edition here for a limited time.

"Release!" will be generally available to purchase in September from Amazon and other retailers. To get the full scoop, check out their Kickstarter page.

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Michael Kanasoot is a Product Marketing Manager and caffeine enthusiast at ActiveState. He manages product messaging and marketing campaigns for various products including Stackato and Komodo IDE. Prior to joining ActiveState, Michael specialized in marketing mobile security and IT asset management solutions. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia.